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Blog: In Iraq, Ancient Christian Communities Are Being Destroyed

Christians in Iraq are one
of the oldest surviving continuous Christian communities in the world. The vast
majority are Aramaic-speaking Assyrians, Armenians, Arabs, Kurds and Turcoman.
These are the lands in which Jesus’s apostles and their disciples made some of
the first Christian converts. In an interview in Christian Today (July
2, 2014), Iraq’s leading bishop, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I.
Sako of Baghdad lamented, “We are losing our community. If Christian life in
Iraq comes to an end, this will be a hiatus in our history … the future of
Iraq’s Christians is under threat.” Like Iraq’s ancient Jewish community before
them, the world’s oldest Christian community may soon cease to exist, due to
the exodus to Iraqi Kurdistan (on the cusp of declaring their independence) and
to Jordan.

Christians numbered over 1.5
million in 2003, representing over 5% of the population, and an even higher
percentage in 1987 (about 8% of the population). Yet, in 2013, the number of
Christians had dropped to less than 450,000 and now in July 2014, they are even
less. No one is quite sure exactly how many are left in Iraq because the
situation, especially around Mosul (historically known as Nineveh), where many
Christians live, is so chaotic. The terrorist group, known as the Islamic State
of Syria and the Levant (ISIL, also called ISIS), has imposed strict Islamic
law and prohibitions on the practice of Christianity, according to the
Associated Press.

After the U.S. invasion of
Iraq in 2003, Christians were among those targeted by Islamic extremists.
Reports of abductions, torture, bombings of churches, unofficial pogroms, mob
violence and killings rose among the Christian population. Christians were
pressured to convert to Islam under threat of death or expulsion and women were
ordered in many communities to wear Islamic dress. Several prominent priests,
ministers and bishops were murdered between 2004 and 2013. The number of
churches in Iraq has declined to less than 57 from over 300 before 2003, as
Christians fled to Syria, Jordan and other countries.

Many Iraqi Christians have
for centuries lived in the Nineveh Plains in the North and especially in the
city of Mosul and its surrounding towns and villages. It is precisely this area
that has recently been captured by ISIL. The Tablet, a British Catholic newsweekly,
described a scene of chaos and devastation, with churches being looted and
burned, people fleeing for their lives, and tanks captured from Iraqi forces
moving into Christian villages and causing total carnage. Facing total war, the
Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Amel Nona said his city was now at “the
mercy of the attackers.”

Britain’s Catholic
Herald said on Friday, June 27, 2014: “This is the final scene in the
grotesque, theatrical death of Iraqi Christianity. A people who once numbered
more than a million, who just a decade ago enjoyed the use of more than 300
blossoming churches, now faces extinction.” The ancient monastery of Mar Behnam
as well as many other churches have fallen into the hands of the insurgents and
numerous Christians have been killed. Archbishop Amel Nona worried that the
threats which caused Christians to flee might mean that they will never return,
especially in light of the fact that from ISIL-controlled regions in Syria have
come reports of Christians being forced to pay the Islamic Jaziya tax and pressure to convert to Islam.

The Chaldean Catholic
Archbishop of Irbil told Vatican Radio that “it is not just about being a
Christian, it is about being a human being and being a minority,” referring
also to the many other minorities within Iraq who have no protection against
either revenge killings or persecution from those in power.

The U.S. certainly bears some
responsibility (at least was complicit) in this catastrophe, since our country
oversaw the creation of Iraq’s postwar government and did little to protect
minority faiths. Even church leaders outside the Middle East are afraid to
speak out, partly because they fear precipitating more violence. After Pope
Benedict XVI quoted an ancient criticism of Islam in an academic speech in
Germany, seven Christian churches were fire-bombed.

Nor is Mosul the only
Iraqi city, or the Nineveh Plains the only area under siege. The Vatican Radio
reports that a mood of fear in Baghdad after the rapid advance of ISIL and its
allies hovers over all Christians who have already hunkered down since 2003.
The Sunni militants have already seized several cities south of Mosul and north
of Baghdad and have vowed to march to Baghdad. Many Christians living in Baghdad have fled
the city for the Kurdish enclave in the north, other areas of Iraq or even
Jordan and beyond because they fear a civil war. “Caritas Iraq” and many other
charitable nonprofits are mobilizing their resources to help care for the tens
of thousands of displaced people, including Christians, who are forced to flee
their homes in fear of the Islamic militants.

NETWORK has received
emails describing the pain, suffering and uncertainty of what lies ahead for
the Christian communities in Iraq. The news from our friends, the Dominican Sisters
of Iraq, is very distressing. We learned that they were forced to flee from
Qaraqosh, the largest Christian community in Iraq just east of Mosul, where they
were building a new Motherhouse. The Sisters and many other Christians have
been caught in the crossfire between ISIL (and their tribal allies) and the
Peshmerga, armed Kurdish fighters claiming the villages near but outside their
current borders. To the extent they have been able, the Sisters have been
helping some people who had nowhere to go. So many have next to nothing. The Church
is providing food and mattresses for them to sleep on in nearby schools that
have opened their doors to them. The situation is fraught with danger and the
people are upset that the media seem to have forgotten them.

For many Americans, the
human and financial cost of our eight-year war in Iraq has not been recognized.
But for Iraq’s Christians, the personal cost of that war and now its aftermath
have been far too great. As we can see from the foregoing, minorities in Iraq,
especially Christians, live in a culture of fear and violence rather than a
culture of relationship and community. If Christians are to feel secure in the
land of their fathers and mothers they must be able to live and thrive in a
peaceful and just society, one where human rights are defended. While many Americans
are prepared to use the violence of war to wreak vengeance on the Islamic
militants, I would rather advocate the peaceful diplomatic approach of mediating
between the peoples affected and the militants, for the time will come when the
people living in these regions will demand not only their economic wellbeing,
but also their basic human rights. Do we really want to see the continuation of
targeted drone strikes throughout this war-torn country? Our plea should be for
peace and human rights.